


Conversations In The Dark

by MuseForYou



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang Is Raised By His Gay Parents Gyatso And Pathik, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Angst, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, But I Promise This Is A Fun High School Romp!, Eventual Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, High School Hijinks, Jet Is Katara's Ex She Slapped In The Face, Kyoshi Warriors Are A Girl Gang, Laser Tag, M/M, Mai Is Zuko's Ex He Broke Up With Over Text, Mutual Pining, One-sided Aang/Katara (Avatar), Ozai Is A Drug Lord, Past Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Sharing a Bed, Toph Is The School Wrestling Champion, Yue Is Still Dead, Zuko (Avatar) Angst, Zuko And Azula Are Actual Siblings, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, he deserved it, tropes galore, tw child abuse, tw domestic violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:01:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23525785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuseForYou/pseuds/MuseForYou
Summary: Senior Year Was Supposed To Be The Time Of His Life.But changing schools and changing houses right before the first day has done a lot worse to his reputation than the scar on his face ever did. Now, Zuko has to start all over again while balancing his time at his uncle's tea shop and he's not exactly feeling the senior spirit.Senior Year Was Supposed To Be The Time Of Her Life.Katara had finally planned to step out of her friends' shadows but she still feels like she can't catch up. And things only get worse when the new guy shows up with a scowl that does funny things to her heart and a burn that's all too familiar.It reminds her of what happened to her mom.(An enemies to awkward friends to lovers fic about high school love, friendships, and hijinks with a backdrop of major angst because of TW: child abuse, drug use, war, and death. But I promise, it's mostly fun.)Rating is for trigger warnings, Yue's past death, and potential steamy scenes.
Relationships: Jet/Katara (Avatar), Kanna/Pakku (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Zuko - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 50





	Conversations In The Dark

Dad burnt breakfast again.

  
I knew it was stupid to get upset over something so silly but I could practically feel the vein popping out of my forehead as I stared at the charred bacon he was scrubbing off the pan and the crispy toast laying on a chipped plate. Sokka didn’t seem to mind as he strode past and grabbed a protein shake out of the fridge, like he’d expected dad to fuck the whole thing up.

  
Really, I couldn’t blame him.

  
“Dad, I think you’d better run.” He shout-whispered across our tiny, seafoam green kitchen. “She’s got the look of a killer in her eyes!” He grabbed his discarded backpack off the counter he’d let his lacrosse buddies break one too many times and swung it over his shoulder.

  
“Sokka, stop teasing your sister.” He sighed, not even trying to properly reprimand him as he continued to scrub fruitlessly at the pan. “Katara, I’m sorry about breakfast again. I’ll give you a few extra bucks to get something at school.”

  
I finally let my shoulders drop and released the breath of air I was holding, trying to let my anger go with it. _It’s not his fault. It’s not his fault. It’s not his fault._ That had been my mantra all summer since dad had come back from his final tour with the army. But it really hadn’t helped. Things had just been weird since he’d been home. Of course, Sokka hadn’t seemed to notice. He was a guy and finally had a guy in the house to do the _‘man things’_ with.

  
But as soon as dad came home, Gran Gran had started getting confused. After the second time she’d left the gas on in the kitchen and then tried to light a candle, dad had put her in an old folk’s home on the other side of town. So, while Sokka had a guy to do _‘man things’_ with – I didn’t even have someone to help divide up the chores with anymore.

  
It was nice of dad to try at least – with some things.

  
“You’ve got to soak that pan, or nothing comes off it.” I finally explained, moving around him to grab the snacks I hid in the cabinet behind the bowls. It was where I kept my emergency food stash – in case dad tried to _‘cook’_ again. “And you don’t cook anything that sticks on that. Its more for boiling.” I reached into his back pocket and took his wallet, sneaking out a five before leaving it on the counter. “Thanks for the cash though!”

  
Dad was still slack jawed and left thoroughly duped by the time I’d grabbed my bag by the front door and swung myself outside with Sokka on my heels.  
“You’re _so_ rude to dad, you know that?” Sokka laughed as he swung his arm across my shoulder, holding his lacrosse stick with his free hand. “You can’t just make a man feel that stupid all at once. You gotta spread it out a little bit, baby sis. Otherwise you’ll kill our pride and really, that’s all we have.”

  
I smiled up at him as sweetly as I could. “But I love taking everything you have.”

  
His lips screwed up into a scowl. “Yeah, I know.” He ruffled my hair before turning us slightly as we stopped in front of Aang’s place on our walk to school.  
It was the first day of our senior year for both Sokka and I but for our kid neighbor, it was his first day of high school _ever_. I half expected him to be bouncing on his patio with all the energy of his ecstatic cat Momo, but the elaborately decorated entryway was empty.

  
“We’re already running a little late.” I eyed the street, noticing the lack of other students who were heading in the same direction. Everyone else was either already at school or at least a few blocks ahead of us. Dad’s cooking had set us behind and we _really_ couldn’t afford Aang holding us up either. “I hope he’s alright.”

  
Sokka groaned as he marched across the perfectly raked zen garden lawn and up to the door. I hurried behind him, trying my hardest not to ruin his parent’s hard work on their masterpiece. “Aang!” He shouted as he pounded on the door. “Get your tiny freshmen butt out here! We’ve got to go!”

  
The door opened to a frantic looking fourteen-year-old – his short brown hair disheveled and his grey eyes wide. “Sokka, you gotta save me!”

  
Aang clutched onto his arm just as I stepped onto the patio, watching as his parents came up to the door. I offered them a smile and a small wave. “Mr. Gyatso, Mr. Pathik. Sorry if we bothered. I thought Aang was walking with us to school now.”

  
Gyatso smiled bright under his thick white mustache. “Of course, Katara. My husband and I were simply trying to fix Aang’s hair for his first day.”

  
“They’re trying to make me look like a nerd, Katara!” He whined in response, clutching onto Sokka’s arm tighter.

  
“We really don’t have time for this today, Aang.” I said between my teeth as I tried to pry his fingers off Sokka’s arm. “We’re already running late.”

  
He finally gave in and groaned, letting his dad comb his hair to the sides and down a straight line in the middle. And he was right – he looked like a nerd.  
But not one of those hot nerds either. He looked like one of those _‘I’ve lived in my mom’s basement for fifteen years and never paid rent’_ nerds.

  
I leaned down to his level – which was a full foot shorter than me. “I’ll give you the beanie in my bag later.”

  
_‘Thank you.’_ He mouthed back.

  
“Thank you for trusting us with your son, we’ll see you after school!” I called over my shoulder as I rushed the other two down the steps and across the yard.

  
“You guys sure you don’t want any onion and banana protein shakes before you go?” Pathik shouted from the steps, two to-go containers in his hand. “They’re good for the soul!”

  
“We’re okay, Mr. Pathik! Big breakfast, yum!”

  
As if to prove I was a liar, my stomach chose that moment to growl. Thankfully, we were far enough away they couldn’t hear.

  
Aang cocked his head to the side and stared at my stomach like he’d seen a ghost. “Jeez, Katara. You should eat more. It sounds like a dying whale in there.”

  
I could feel my face turn beat red as I shoved his shoulder. “Shut up, Aang!” Sokka started laughing so hard tears formed in his eyes as we continued walking down the street, trying our hardest not to be late. “Just for that, you can look like a nerd for your whole first day of school. See if I care.”

  
“Awe, man.”

-0-

It wasn’t the first time I’d burned the tea – but uncle was determined that it would be the last.

  
“My boy,” he began, shaking his head, “perhaps we will have you bust tables from now on.”

  
I sighed and threw the towel in my hands on the counter at the front of his tea shop. I knew he loved this place and gave me a job, so I didn’t feel like such a deadweight when he opened his home to me. It was why I tried to keep my mouth shut, but it was hard this early in the morning.

  
“It’s just hot leaf juice. It all tastes the same no matter who brews it anyways.” I grumbled, rounding the counter to the side where the customers sat, reading their early morning papers in the dim lighting that filtered through the blinds.

  
He pressed a hand across his apron covered chest. “How can such words come from my own family!” He smirked, breaking the dramatics as he dumped the tea I’d ruined down the sink. “You should take this jasmine tea to table four and then head to school. You don’t want to be late on your first day.”

  
I groaned but grabbed the trey of hot teas and pastries from the counter anyways. “Uncle, do I have to? I was perfectly fine at my old school. I’m sure there’s still time to re-enroll me at Ba Sing Se High if you –”

  
“Zuko, Omashu High is a proud establishment and it will do you well to go to a normal high school. Besides, Ba Sing Se is almost an hour drive from here. You’d have no time to help me with the shop if you drove all the way there and back every day for school.” I dropped the trey off at the table, listening to uncle between the customers thanking me and asking for extra napkins. “I know you don’t like all this change, but trust that it will do you some good.”

  
“Anything that gets me away from _them_ will be good.” I said under my breath as I grabbed a handful of napkins from the counter and headed back to table four. I’d hoped I’d been quiet enough for him not to hear but, when I returned to the counter, uncle had a stony expression on his face that told me otherwise.

  
He took a deep breath and laid a heavy hand on my shoulder. “I have custody of you now, my boy.” He shook me a little, as if to shake the words into me. “I know we don’t have the comfy life you’re used to but there is a pride that comes in hard work. That means working _here_ instead of not working. Living in a small apartment instead of a mansion.” He seemed to produce my backpack out of thin air and thrust it into my arms with a gleeful smile. “And going to a _normal_ high school instead of a private one.” He pointed to the door. “Now, get moving.”

  
I rolled my eyes, threw the bag over my shoulder, and wrestled the apron off my waist. “You could’ve just said ‘ _go to school’_.”

  
He yanked at his beard the way he always did when he was stressed. “I did try that! You never listen!”

  
I threw the apron at him and headed for the door, chuckling as I slid backwards through it and sent him a wave. “Whatever you say, uncle!”

  
“That boy is going to give me a heart attack.” I heard him grumble to a customer before the door swung shut.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, questions, concerns? Let me know!


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